


I'm Searching For Something That I Can't Reach

by Glitchinthedark



Series: THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY WHUMPTOBER 2020 [7]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Ben Hargreeves Deserves Better, Ben Hargreeves Needs A Hug, F/M, Ghosts, Love, Unrequited Love, whumptober2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-07
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:54:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26866984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Glitchinthedark/pseuds/Glitchinthedark
Summary: He was nothing more than a flicker of a shadow in the darkness, but she saw him.Ben is alone, stuck wandering the halls of the rehab centre while Klaus finishes his treatment. Yet, amongst the pale demeanor of the rooms he walked, he saw her.
Relationships: Ben Hargreeves & Original Female Character(s)
Series: THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY WHUMPTOBER 2020 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1949950
Kudos: 6
Collections: Whumptober 2020





	I'm Searching For Something That I Can't Reach

It was a constant cycle. Wake up, get high or inebriated on some cocktail of drugs/alcohol, scrounge for money then pass out and repeat again. So, when Klaus ended up in rehab once more, it was a complete spanner in the works. Ben hadn't talked to him much since, with all the withdrawal symptoms hitting at once he was lucky to even get a coherent sentence out of him, so he took to wandering the hallways, aimlessly following the cracks of the neglected chipped paint walls. 

There were never any noticeable differences between the inhabitants of the rehab centres, none that Ben had any care to examine. He didn’t like to look too closely at people, afraid of forming some kind of attachment to them, only to be torn away when he had to leave again. Yet, no matter what one does, one cannot stop the inevitable. 

Passing by the common room he noticed someone, a person different to the other inhabitants scattered across the perimeter. Judging from the bags under her eyes and the open scabs on her knuckles, she was struggling with the effects of rehab. He had seen similar signs before. Yet, despite what people would consider normal flaws - dishevelled hair, the tired eyes and the baggy clothes – she was beautiful. An angel hidden amongst the crowd. Unsure of what drew him to her, Ben sat next to her on the tattered patchy sofa and for a brief moment in time, he felt that she could feel him there too.  
Ben was used to all sorts of characters in the rehab centres, those wanting to get better, people forced in by concerned friends/family, people who just wanted a roof over their head for the night. She was different. He felt drawn to her in ways he could not understand. He listened to the way her voice cracked on the phone, saying how she couldn’t keep going, with every word sending cracks up through his heart. Something within him connected with her and there was nothing he could do about it. 

Even in the late hours of the night, sitting alone in the deserted common room she radiated to him. There was something about her, the way she sat legs tucked under her, hair tied up in a messy bun with two strands falling down the left side of her face. All he wanted was to talk to her, reach out and learn about every detail of her, but he was just a hidden spirit in the air, nothing more than a shadow out the corner of her eye, disappearing the moment she adjusted her focus. He loved the way her eyes widened at every turn of the book she was reading, her mind so infatuated with the words on the page that her face showed every range of emotion as she traversed its lines. Then, darkness. A power outage, a sudden blackout had overtaken the room, leaving them both stranded in the darkness. The room was silent, with only the sounds of her shallow breathing echoing off the walls of the common room. 

He was nothing more than a flicker of a shadow in the darkness, but she saw him. Illuminated only by a shaft of moonlight through the window, his ghostly pale appearance was outlined in the grey. He noticed how even in the darkness; he could see her every movement. The way she lowered her head as she looked at him, the careful calculated steps as she got up and moved closer to examine what he was. She reached out towards him, confusion and fear painted across her face as she stepped closer to him. Fingers hesitant, she hesitated moments before stumbling, passing through his body just as the blackout came to fruition. Every ounce of his physicality had been extinguished in the white light bathing the walls around him. Once again, he was lost to the darkness, hopelessly invisible to all around him. 

Klaus had left the next morning, completing his rehab stint and released back onto the wonderous roads of his drug lust. Once again, he was stuck in his own carefree world, fully ignoring the otherworldly experience Ben had attempted to explain after the night prior. He was sad to let her go, the only one (other than Klaus) to see him, to acknowledge him. Between the still of night and the cracks of dawn, he left her a message, a short scribble of his deepest thoughts he wanted her to know.  
Light esacaped the cracks of the blinds just as the residents started appearing across the open common room. There a girl sat, dishevveled and alone, yet somewhat connected to the spirit she found in the night. Opening the book, a scrappy, torn note fell from the book’s pages onto her lap. A small, beautifull written message hidden somewhere she would definitely find. Picking up the paper with care, she saw the words etched into the paper, as if it were written just for her to see.

“I support you; I believe in you. – Ben”

**Author's Note:**

> Poor Ben, broke my heart writing this! Hope you enjoyed!
> 
> Also I always post this in the early hours of the morning cause I know I will forget to do them in the day! So it is the 7th just UK timezones!
> 
> Fic title quote:
> 
> Ghost - Halsey


End file.
